Poor people ‘are dying of laziness’, report warns

Thousands of couch potatoes in poor areas are dying young because they are so lazy, a report has warned.

One in three people in the most deprived parts of England are failing to raise their heartbeats for even a modest 30 minutes a month, research by health group Ukactive shows.

Impoverished islands of inactivity see about 100 more premature deaths per 100,000 people a year than areas where people exercise most, the not-for-profit organisation claims.

Ukactive claimed even a one per cent rise in the amount of exercise taken would be worth £1.2billion to the economy – and called for urgent government action to tackle idleness. ‘It’s no longer acceptable that physical inactivity remains the forgotten cause of death in the UK,’ said chairman Fred Turok.

‘More deprived areas are faring worse in a physical inactivity pandemic, with no national strategy to improve our fitness levels.’

Thirteen of the 15 local authority areas where people are laziest sit in England’s most deprived regions, Ukactive said.

On average, the least active areas had a third fewer leisure facilities than the most active.

Councils – who took over promoting exercise from the NHS last year – were found to be spending an average of just two per cent of their public health budgets on programmes to boost activity.